Former Fairfield County deputy clerk admits stealing court's money

LANCASTER, Ohio - A former deputy clerk who admitted stealing $2,495 in traffic fines and court costs from Fairfield County Municipal Court is expected to plead guilty on Monday to theft in office.

Mary Beth Lane, The Columbus Dispatch

LANCASTER, Ohio — A former deputy clerk who admitted stealing $2,495 in traffic fines and court costs from Fairfield County Municipal Court is expected to plead guilty on Monday to theft in office.

Tara B. Manning, 32, of 1014 James Rd., Lancaster, could be sentenced to 18 months in prison by Common Pleas Judge Richard E. Berens.

Manning has paid back all the money and is sorry for “a serious error in judgment,” her lawyer, Jason A. Price, said yesterday.

Court Clerk Sherry Eckman said she fired Manning on July 30 after her own audit showed the money was missing.

A state audit confirmed Eckman’s audit, and Manning was indicted under a bill of information filed by special prosecutor Robert F. Smith in January. Smith works for the state auditor.

Manning had worked for the court since April 2001; her annual salary was $41,468.

Eckman said Manning confessed when confronted, saying at first that she didn’t know why she took the money and later that she did it because she was greedy.

“I was in total shock, total disbelief,” Eckman said. “She was a trusted employee. It was a slap in the face to the public, her co-workers.”

Manning stole the money in sums of $120 and $130 from April 2010 to July 2012. Instead of putting the money in a cash box and writing receipts for traffic fines and court costs, Manning kept the money and hid the paperwork in her desk, the audits showed.

Eckman said she has tightened office procedures and distributed the restitution in the amounts that were owed to Lancaster, the county and the state.